I hate ticks

General discussions on hiking in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest
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retired jerry
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Re: I hate ticks

Post by retired jerry » April 6th, 2018, 6:56 pm

The one on my belly from 1 year ago is fading, barely noticeable

My shoulder from 2 months ago - healing nicely but still very noticeable. There are bumps I can feel.

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Water
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Re: I hate ticks

Post by Water » April 6th, 2018, 8:07 pm

Don Nelsen wrote:
retired jerry wrote: ... Tick bites seems to take forever to heal.
I was wondering about that - I got a bite a week ago on Dog Mt. and it still's not healed. I guess from your experience I need to be patient - usually, I heal very quickly and if it was anything else, it would be gone by now.

dn
not to alarm you but I think there might be 20-30 years between us and the 2 bites I got in March of 2017.. one on my shin is still not healed. The one on my waist (ok fine, love handle) healed a month or so ago finally. Relatively speaking, I heal quickly and am in quite good health, by all medical metrics and personal assessment, dont take any prescriptions, daily meds, etc. I've been shocked by the time for these tick bites to heal. I have a new one as of March 2018 in the middle of my back more or less. It seems to be healing quicker, I think because it's much harder to itch? The other two really itched, guilty as charged I scratched..
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justpeachy
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Re: I hate ticks

Post by justpeachy » April 6th, 2018, 8:18 pm

Well this is troubling.

Ticks rising: In a warming world, ticks thrive in more places than ever before, making Lyme disease the first epidemic of climate change
https://aeon.co/essays/how-lyme-disease ... ate-change
Ticks are seen moving into places that only a decade before had been considered ill-suited to support them.
Although they cannot fly or jump, they are, for all practical purposes, climbing mountains, crossing rivers and traversing hundreds, even thousands, of miles to set up housekeeping.

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drm
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Re: I hate ticks

Post by drm » April 14th, 2018, 12:33 pm

I got two ticks at Lyle Cherry Orchard today. One was digging in and itching just over an hour after I started hiking so they were impatient. And both were on the upper body, so must have come from the trees you walk under, not the grass. The one that was digging in was on my bicep. They were not deer ticks, if that is any consolation.

As to warming affecting ticks, I also heard that although all plants like more CO2, poison oak in particular likes it. So we can have a rash to go with our tick bites.

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Chip Down
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Re: I hate ticks

Post by Chip Down » April 14th, 2018, 10:42 pm

For the first time in my life, I can't tell you how many ticks I flicked off me today. I lost count. They were relentless. It was just horrible. Miraculously, I didn't have to extract any.

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retired jerry
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Re: I hate ticks

Post by retired jerry » April 15th, 2018, 11:39 am

I got one on the Metolius River. It was walking on the outside of my arm when I was about to go to sleep so I flicked it off.

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Chip Down
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Re: I hate ticks

Post by Chip Down » June 10th, 2018, 7:16 pm

This is the stuff of nightmares. I had my own personal Stand By Me moment when I had to extract a tick from the worst possible place. Well, okay, maybe not the worst possible spot. But the worst possible zone, if you will. At least it was on my front. I dread getting one I can't see/reach, e.g. back of the neck.

I was on Silver Star, not particularly well known for ticks. Pants, gaiters, permethrin. Felt a stinging/burning sensation. Figured I'd better see what was going on. All looked normal, until "Hey, what's that little dark spot? No...no, it can't be". Never had a painful tick bite before, but have read that can happen. I was starting to feel a little helpless. Can anything stop these beasts? The more I think about it, I suspect it survived a laundry cycle, or waited in my gear bag since a previous hike. Both seem unlikely, but perhaps more likely than a tick getting past my defenses on Silver Star of all places.

Webfoot
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Re: I hate ticks

Post by Webfoot » June 11th, 2018, 3:14 am

Sorry for your luck. I think they home in on that "zone." :x Was your underwear treated? I'm going to start spraying mine.

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retired jerry
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Re: I hate ticks

Post by retired jerry » June 11th, 2018, 5:42 am

There is a particular type of itch/pain that I now instantly recognize. I got one near "that zone" and got it off easily.

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romann
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Re: I hate ticks

Post by romann » June 11th, 2018, 11:24 pm

Just beat a personal record last week, picked 19 ticks on powerline "trail" west of Mitchell Point on Thursday (short after-work hike). Hiked less than 1/3 of a mile under powerlines, but it was all in chest-high grass. No bites, got lucky.

I don't think I saw any while staying on hikers trail.
Last edited by romann on June 11th, 2018, 11:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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